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I'll tell you why the metric system hasn't caught on. The words are too long! Kilometers. Centimeters. Milligrams, deciliters. I'd like 500 milliliters of milk, please. It just doesn't work. It's unnatural to have to pronounce words that are that long, to describe such basic concepts.
In
America, we like our words short. Inch. Foot. Yard. Mile. Pint, pound, ounce, quart. Ton. Gimme a pint of milk. Even the old-fashioned measurements are short-syllabled. Acre; Bushel; League; Knot.
You are never going to get Americans to use the metric system as long as the words are so long. So here's what I propose as a compromise.
The prefixes will be shortened: "Mi" for milli, "ce" for centi, "ki" for kilo, etc.
To indicate the unit, add a letter at the end: L for liter, G for gram, M for meter.
Some examples:
kim = kilometer
ceg (pron. seg) = centigram
kig = kilogram
mil = milliliter
del = deciliter
nam = nanometer
cem = centimeter.
So much faster!
The history of the inch, foot, yard and rod.
http://www.npl.co.u..._length/page04.html
[UnaBubba, Oct 17 2004]
Metric arthropods
SI_20arthropods
[AbsintheWithoutLeave, Jul 08 2006]
Annotation:
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Entirely Baked - the army has been using klicks for yonks, doctors and the like refer to cc's, engineers and others to mils, etc. |
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My theory is that you will never get the American general public to use the metric system period. |
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years ago my dad referred to a 5ml poon (they used to give them away with medicine) |
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That would have been before metrification, surely? |
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What we need are metric versions of common foods. Like kilodonuts, deciribs, and centibeer. |
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Except that beer is sold in six-packs. I think you can get decadonuts, though. |
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you mean metrification of money? about the same time I think. before that it was just a teaspoonful of the stuff! |
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Death, not centibeer, please! |
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"I'll take a half kilo of salami, please." Gee, that wasn't so hard. |
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Re. Klicks, we should have licks instead of meters. Biologists also use 'lambda(s)' for microliters, but that's partly to avoid confusion with mil's. |
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Anyway, a kilogram is, here on Chicago's southside, just a ki. We terse like that. |
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If the American chaps don't want to go metric, then there's precisely nowt we can do about it. It doesn't really matter - it just means that when our metric cousins go over to the US to visit, they have to do some mental arithmetic, but since they'll have to do that for currency as well it's no major bother. |
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Whilst I hesitate to bring the French into a discussion on the merits of metricity, vive la difference. |
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2000 mockingbirds = 2 kilomockingbirds
10 millipedes = 1 centipede
8 nickles = 2 paradigms
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I think I eat a kilodonut a year. |
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(note that kilodonut would be "kid" now) |
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Lots of people eat kilodonuts... it's the fat content. |
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I think the reason the metric system hasn't caught on is because the units are so darned inconvenient. Kilometers are too small, liters are too small, meters are too big. I love the base ten thing though. |
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Yeah, kilometers are too small and meters are too big. |
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I think the problem with the metric system is that everything is divisible by 10. There's no excitement, no intrique, no mystery. No wonder people find it boring. Did they do that on purpose, or was it just lack of imagination? |
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The solution is not to switch to the metric system. but to switch our numbering to base 12. sure dividing in half is good, but when do you have to divide something into fifths ? with base 12 we could easily divide whole numbers into halfs, thirds and quarters. so much handier. |
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It is strange that the "deci" and "deka" -- "one-tenth" and "ten" -- hardly ever get used, even by metritricians. Instead it's millimeter, centimeter, nothing, meter, nothing, nothing, kilometer. |
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We don't have those gaping holes in America. |
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Sixty-fourth, sixteenth, inch, foot, yard, rod, chain, furlong, mile. |
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16'6" to a rod; 4 rods = 22 yards to a chain, 10 chains to a furlong, 8 furlongs to a mile. |
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The gaping holes were always there, you just didn't know they existed.
[link] |
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I disagree with phundug's "gaping holes" statement.
Fractions or X # of: Inch, Foot, Yard, Mile are regularly used, though I've never heard or seen anyone say 1/4 Grand Canyon. |
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Around here we just use the word ‘K’ for both speed and distance, the context distinguishing which. This is much shorter than saying miles or miles-per-hour. Do what makes sense, the language will adapt. |
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I think that all of us using metric do that, [Fussass]. |
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I'm uncertain why metric is such an issue. The US established a committee to implement metric, nationally, almost 150 years ago. |
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[phundug] - Decilitre is used in France especially in restaurants, eg you would order "Trois decis de vin blanc". In this case a decilitre is quite a handy measure. |
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BTW is a decibel one tenth of a bel? |
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Shouldn't all this (including the idea) just be annos on that other (non) idea about metric versus imperial? |
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I always get tripped up that 1cc =
1mL. At first glance, my mind
wants to expect the base units to
be equivalent, such that 1 cubic
meter = 1 Liter. Of course, if that
were the case, that would mean
that liter night at the local pub
would KILL most patrons. |
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[johnmeacham] Just in case
somebody needed that ability to
divide by 5, why not use a
sexagesimal (base-60) number
system like the Babylonians? It
sure makes that whole hours-
>minutes->seconds thing a lot
easier to understand. Sort of.
Okay, not really. |
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[GordonComstock] Actually, yes,
deciBels are 0.1 Bel. |
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And a thousand bells = 1 Kilobel. |
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So what power of 10 does Taco represent? |
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/years ago my dad referred to a 5ml poon (they used to give them away with medicine)/ |
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I guess that medicine would be some sort of novocaine-containing lubricant? |
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Austrians use dekagrams, but they just refer to them as "dekas" dunno why... austrians are just special like that I guess. Also engineers do indeed use "mils" but this is not a metric measurement, it refers to 1/1000th inch. sometimes people pronounce milliliter "mil" but that is different. |
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Maybe Americans would accept metric measure if the spelled them correctly. "metre", "litre"
//Also engineers do indeed use "mils" but this is not a metric measurement,// Military engineers (and artillerymen) also use the "mil", but as a unit of circular measure (6400mil == two pi radians == 360 degrees). Confusing, innit? |
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//if they spelled them correctly. "metre", "litre"//
Another problem eliminated by this idea :) |
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Remarkably, it's taken 3 years for someone to point out to [DrCurry] that when an engineer refers to mils, s/he doesn't mean millimeters, but rather thousandths of an inch. 1 mil is a very tiny distance, even compared to a millimeter. |
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how many yonks to the month? |
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Death to The Metric system - (begins to
rant) I refuse to use it!!! d'ya hear me???
REFUSE!!! The old imperial sytems is so
brilliant - how many pecks are there in a
bushel? centi-measures are for centipedes
- that's what I call them anyway (ends rant
and stares depressingly at hideous Euro
money mix in pocket, contemplating a
"money" tirade) |
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